Thursday, March 24, 2016

Our twins

From Carrie:My newest little loves decided to make a dramatic entrance early this morning. Unbeknownst to us, they flipped breech. I labored three hours from start to finish, one hour of which was spent holding A inside while we transferred to Saint Francis, fully expecting a cesarean, but he rotated on the way and when the doctor looked at me she said, "Nope, push him out!" He was frank, brother was footling, born fifteen minutes apart. They were 8lbs 1oz, 20 inches long, and 8 lbs 3oz, 21 inches long. My transfer experience was so much better than I would ever have expected. With the exception of some doctor to midwife hostility, it's been perfect. I am so happy, and doing it over, wouldn't change a thing. My midwives were wonderful and called the transfer when we needed it, and all the doctors and nurses at Saints have been warm and supportive. It's nice when the system works! I'm in love with these guys, and so thankful they're on the outside! We hope to get names settled down by tomorrow.For those who have wondered how you missed that we were having twins, we purposely kept the announcement off Facebook. But here's an announcement everyone gets at once, names!!

Baby A is Aldwyn Carl Etzel: Aldwyn means "defender" and "old friend", and Carl was my Grandpa's middle name, as well as my brother's.

Me: The tough thing is my taking the three older boys back home while Carrie is in the hospital. She has a friend staying over with her, but the tough thing is for our two-year-old who, at 3am, was crying because he wanted to give mommy and the babies hugs and kisses. Also, the boys were misbehaving in the hospital today, so that was a challenge. Overall, the transition is going well. I had some wonderful moments of holding the two newborns, looking at our family.